AMELIA (gayly rising). Ha! What a happy maid am I! My only one is a reflection of Deity, and Deity is mercy and compassion! He could not bear to see a fly suffer. His soul is as far from every thought of blood as the sun is from the moon. (CHARLES suddenly turns away into a thicket, and looks wildly out into the landscape. AMELIA sings, playing the guitar.) Oh! Hector, wilt thou go forevermore, Where fierce Achilles, on the blood-stained shore, Heaps countless victims o'er Patroclus' grave? Who then thy hapless orphan boy will rear, Teach him to praise the gods and hurl the spear, When thou art swallowed up in Xanthus' wave? CHARLES (silently tunes the guitar, and plays). Beloved wife!--stern duty calls to arms Go, fetch my lance! and cease those vain alarms! [He flings the guitar away, and rushes off.] SCENE V.--A neighboring forest. Night. An old ruined castle in the centre of the scene. The band of ROBBERS encamped on the ground. The ROBBERS singing. To rob, to kill, to wench, to fight, Our pastime is, and daily sport; The gibbet claims us morn and night, So let's be jolly, time is short. A merry life we lead, and free, A life of endless fun; Our couch is 'neath the greenwood tree, Through wind and storm we gain our fee, The moon we make our sun. Old Mercury is our patron true, And a capital chap for helping us through. To-day we make the abbot our host, The farmer rich to-morrow; And where we shall get our next day's roast, Gives us nor care nor sorrow. And, when with Rhenish and rare Moselle Our throats we have been oiling, Our courage burns with a fiercer swell, And we're hand and glove with the Lord of Hell, Who down in his flames is broiling. For fathers slain the orphans' cries, The widowed mothers' moan and wail, Of brides bereaved the whimpering sighs, Like music sweet, our ears regale. Beneath the axe to see them writhe, Bellow like calves, fall dead like flies; Such bonny sights, and sounds so blithe, With rapture fill our ears and eyes. And when at last our death-knell rings-- The devil take that hour! Payment in full the hangman brings, And off the stage we scour. On the road a glass of good liquor or so, Then hip! hip! hip! and away we go! SCHWEITZER. The night is far advanced, and the captain has not yet returned. RAZ. And yet he promised to be back before the clock struck eight. SCHWEITZER. Should any harm have befallen him, comrades, wouldn't we kindle fires! ay, and murder sucking babes? SPIEGEL. (takes RAZMANN aside). A word in your ear, Razmann! SCHWARZ (to GRIMM). Should we not send out scouts?